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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Quint Forgey and Alexander Ward | | 
Mikhail Kavun wears a T-shirt allegedly bearing the logo of a nationalist movement in 2015. The symbol is actually a meme known as “Zhidobandera.” | Photo courtesy of Aleksei Kavun | With help from Connor O’Brien, Lee Hudson and Phelim Kine Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Quint On the morning of April 18, several members of Russia’s security forces, clothed in camouflage and brandishing tactical shields, burst into a spare, one-bedroom apartment in Astrakhan, a historic city on the banks of the Volga River in southern Russia. Video footage of the raid showed the officers violently apprehending their target — forcing him into a corner of the room, pressing his face against the wall and restraining his hands behind his back as he cried out in pain. After a night of isolation in a local jail, police guards loaded him onto a plane bound for Moscow, where he was formally accused of helping finance a Russian-branded extremist organization in Ukraine with the motivation of racial “superiority” and “racist hatred.” It was a swift show of force — and a confusing indictment — considering the suspect: MIKHAIL KAVUN , a 61-year-old geologist, motorcycle enthusiast and father of two with Ukrainian-Jewish heritage. When launching his invasion of Ukraine in February, Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN rationalized the “special military operation” as designed to bring about the “demilitarization and de-Nazification” of the country — an outlandish justification that was at odds with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY’s own Jewish heritage. And despite a diplomatic crisis over the issue with Israel earlier this month, Putin has kept up his stream of Nazi rhetoric. In his highly anticipated “Victory Day” speech, Putin lamented that a “clash with neo-Nazis” in Ukraine “was unavoidable.” In Moscow last month, Russian authorities charged Kavun with providing more than 100,000 rubles, or about $1,500, worth of financial support to the far-right, Ukrainian nationalist organization Right Sector from 2015 to 2019. And in subsequent days, Russian news outlets began highlighting a photo posted on social media in July 2015 showing Kavun wearing a T-shirt allegedly bearing the logo of the nationalist movement. In actuality, the image on Kavun’s shirt is a meme popularly known as “Zhidobandera” — an oxymoronic term suggesting Jewish support for the doctrine of STEPAN BANDERA, the deeply polarizing Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with Nazi Germany. The meme is meant to highlight the absurdity of allegations by Putin and others of a Nazi-like Jewish cabal inside Ukraine. But the Kremlin’s propagandists missed the irony. The Telegram channel “Kremlin Laundress” — which has a history of disseminating Russian disinformation — pointed to Kavun’s shirt as “evidence” of “Nazis in Ukraine” and asserted that native speakers of the Russian language are being victimized in the same way that Jews were in the Holocaust. That conspiratorial post was then shared online by VLADIMIR SOLOVYOV, the Russian state TV anchor sometimes called “Putin’s voice.” Kavun’s attorney DIMA ZAKHVATOV warned that his client’s case has dangerous implications for Jews in Russia who might be viewed as sympathetic to Ukraine: “We’re going to see [more] criminal cases against Jews [who] were visiting Ukraine or have friends [or] relatives over there.” Kavun, who now faces up to eight years in prison, expressed regret to his family “that I exposed myself so naively, and that I exposed you to danger as well,” according to a letter dated April 24 that he wrote from detention. In that same message, he also shared a bleak but defiant prediction about his fate: “There are long years of jail ahead, and there is probably no way back to the normal life. … I’m not getting used to that thought yet. … Overall, I don’t regret anything.” Read Quint’s full story on Kavun’s case.
| | | | INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | FINLAND OFFICIALLY TO SEEK NATO SPOT: It happened: Finland officially announced that it will seek NATO membership , a whiplash-inducing reversal in Finnish defense politics and a major blow to Russia’s own strategic aims. “NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” President SAULI NIINISTÖ and Prime Minister SANNA MARIN said in a joint statement. Loyal NatSec Daily readers will know Finland (and Sweden) had been weighing such a move for months, prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Helsinki was strictly neutral — they sided militarily and economically with the West for decades — it still shied from joining the alliance. Myriad reasons factored into that decision, but the biggest were history and that the public didn’t favor a move. But once Russia showed it’s a bad actor and public opinion changed, so did Finland’s assessment of its security situation. It’s now expected that Sweden, which is going through a similar review, will soon announce its intention to join NATO, as well. Meanwhile, it’ll shock you to hear that Russia isn’t happy with the announcement. “Finland’s accession to NATO will cause serious damage to bilateral Russian-Finnish relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement. “Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop the threats to its national security that arise in this regard.” LIMITS ON U.S. INTEL TO UKRAINE: The U.S. is following two broad rules when deciding what intelligence to hand over to Ukraine, The Washington Post’s SHANE HARRIS and DAN LAMOTHE reported. “First, the United States cannot provide detailed information that would help Ukraine kill Russian leadership figures, such as the most senior military officers or ministers, officials said. VALERY GERASIMOV, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and SERGEI SHOIGU, the defense minister, for example, would fall into that category,” they wrote. For clarity, that provision doesn’t include high-level military officials, including generals, about a dozen of whom have already died in the war. Harris and Lamothe continued: “The second category of prohibited intelligence-sharing is any information that would help Ukraine attack Russian targets outside Ukraine’s borders, officials said. That rule is meant in part to keep the United States from becoming a party to attacks that Ukraine might launch inside Russia. Those concerns led the administration to halt earlier plans to provide fighter jets, supplied by Poland, which Ukraine could have used to launch attacks on Russian soil.” Importantly, Ukraine can make the sovereign decision to launch such attacks completely on its own and with its proprietary intelligence. The U.S. just doesn’t want to play a part in those operations. This story comes as unauthorized leaks about who or what U.S. intelligence may have helped Ukraine target roiled the administration for days. Top officials in the White House and Pentagon had to play clean-up, saying America provides general intelligence support but nothing as specific as “the Russians are right there — kill them.” U.K. DEFENSE SECRETARY: ‘A LOT OF PEOPLE WILL BE SACKED’ IN RUSSIA: British Defense Secretary BEN WALLACE predicted senior Russian defense and military officials will get the can very soon. “I think a lot of people will be sacked,” Wallace said during a Washington Post Live event today, responding to DAVID IGNATIUS’ question about how much longer Shoigu or Gerasimov will have a job. He specifically cited how Putin’s aides don’t give him sober assessments of the war. “When you get a system like that doesn’t tell the truth … we see the mistakes that get made and the cost” are the lower-level troops who are “ultimately turned into cannon fodder.” “It’ll be more than a few [who] get blamed,” Wallace concluded. Britain has had some of the most direct and incisive intelligence on Russia, which means Wallace may have a deep understanding of the mood inside the Kremlin. Putin has showcased some displeasure with his top lieutenants, but nothing to the point of clearing out his inner circle. Wallace, however, seems to believe — and perhaps have some insight — that there soon will be dramatic personnel moves made at the upper echelons of Russian officialdom.
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Many of today’s military systems and platforms were designed to operate independently. Through our 21st Century Security vision, Lockheed Martin is accelerating innovation, connecting defense and digital to enhance the performance of major platforms, to equip customers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more. | | | IT’S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com and qforgey@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter at @alexbward and @QuintForgey. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @ChristopherJM, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @JGedeon1.
| | | NORTH KOREA CONFIRMS FIRST COVID OUTBREAK: North Korea has confirmed a Covid-19 outbreak for the first time, leading KIM JONG UN to order a nationwide lockdown, The Associated Press’ KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM reported. Few believed that North Korea escaped the virus’ wrath over the last two years, even though the autocratic regime never acknowledged an outbreak. Now Kim wears a mask in public and admits he can’t protect all his citizens from the pandemic, a move possibly designed to encourage other countries to send aid. At the same time, Kim appears determined to show strength during a challenging time for his leadership. However, hours after North Korea confirmed the outbreak, “[South] Korea’s military said it detected the North had fired three suspected ballistic missiles toward the sea. It was its 16th round of missile launches this year, in brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and negotiate sanctions relief and other concessions from a position of strength,” the AP wrote.
| | | RUSSIA USING APPLIANCE PARTS IN MIL TECH: Sanctions and export controls imposed by the U.S. and its allies have forced Russia to scrounge around for technologies that power its weapons. “We have reports from Ukrainians that when they find Russian military equipment on the ground, it’s filled with semiconductors that they took out of dishwashers and refrigerators,” Commerce Secretary GINA RIAMONDO told the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday. “U.S. technology exports to Russia have fallen by nearly 70 percent since sanctions began in late February, according to Raimondo, whose department oversees the export controls that form a big part of the sanctions package. Three dozen other countries have adopted similar export bans, which also apply to Belarus,” The Washington Post’s JEANNE WHALEN reported. The cutoff of semiconductors is hobbling Russia’s military and economy, and the country doesn’t have a large enough ability to mass produce the computer chips it needs. U.S. officials have openly and privately said they believed the export controls, not the sanctions, would ultimately prove most impactful during the war. To date, that assessment seems right.
| | | HYPERSONIC INVESTMENT: Raytheon Technologies’ new venture capital group, RTX Ventures, has made its first investment into hypersonic aircraft startup Hermeus, our own LEE HUDSON reports. RTX Ventures would not disclose the amount, but it is on top of a previously announced $100 million financing round. Last year, the Air Force chipped in $60 million for the company’s reusable hypersonic aircraft project known as Quarterhorse. Hermeus’ goal is to develop a hypersonic aircraft capable of flying at five times the speed of sound, which means flying from New York to Paris in 90 minutes. AFRICOM SCOUTS SOMALILAND’S POTENTIAL OPERATION SITES: The self-declared independent republic of Somaliland got some love today from U.S. Africa Command with the visit of its commander, U.S. Army Gen. STEPHEN TOWNSEND, per our own PHELIM KINE. Townsend and LARRY E. ANDRE JR., U.S. ambassador to Somalia, scouted the Berbera port and airport facilities in Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa “to assess potential operating locations to be able to prepare for contingencies, exercise readiness or adjust force posture as needed,” per an AFRICOM statement. That visit is a follow-up to an August 2021 AFRICOM survey mission to Berbera port. The trip shows the administration takes seriously Somaliland’s openness to host a U.S. military foothold in the strategic Horn of Africa to counter China’s growing strategic footprint in the region. And that a pair of visits to Washington, D.C., over the past six months by senior Somaliland officials are paying off in terms of U.S. government interest in the territory.
| | | |   | | | | | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– 2 HOUSE DEMS WANT MIDEAST PARTNERS TO ‘HONOR’ U.S. TIES: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should honor their long-time partnership with the U.S. by aiding efforts to counter Russia, two House Democrats will urge in a resolution to be introduced this evening. Aimed at America’s “Persian Gulf partners,” but mainly Saudi and the UAE, the measure NatSec Daily exclusively obtained and drafted by Reps. TOM MALINOWSKI (D-N.J.) and ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-Va.) resolves that those countries should:
- “Honor their lasting friendship with the United States”
- “Recognize the United States contributions to their security”
- “Work together with the United States in good faith to increase oil production to stabilize energy markets”
Malinowski and Spanberger appear to believe that the two countries could turn on the oil spigot, bring global prices down and hit Russia’s pocket book. It’s never that easy, of course, but Riyadh and Abu Dhabi could make an effort if they truly wanted.
“They’ve made a choice now not to help us at a moment of extraordinary need and instead help Russia undermine Western sanctions,” Malinowski told NatSec Daily, fingering those two nations’ inaction for why his constituents pay high gas prices. The lawmaker suggested threatening to withdraw Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia if they don’t start exporting more barrels of oil — taking a page out of former President DONALD TRUMP’s own playbook. FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– 18 HOUSE DEMS URGE LIFT OF VENEZUELA SANCTIONS: The U.S. should lift sanctions that further deepen Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis, 18 House Democrats urged in a letter to President JOE BIDEN exclusively obtained by NatSec Daily. “It is clear that broad sanctions have failed to achieve their aims. In light of this, and the dire human costs incurred, we urge you to lift all U.S. financial and sectoral sanctions that exacerbate the humanitarian situation, though without hindering or delaying the urgent action needed to transition the U.S. economy off of fossil fuels,” reads the letter dated May 10 and led by Reps. RAÚL GRIJALVA (D-Ariz.) and JESÚS GARCIA (D-Ill.). This request follows a letter sent to Biden last month by Venezuelan civil society leaders and economists calling for sanctions relief. Back in March, Biden administration officials traveled to Caracas to see if Venezuela would export more oil to fill the gaps Russia no longer fills. The move received stiff pushback, with right-leaning politicians and analysts condemning the idea of providing President NICOLÁS MADURO with an economic windfall. But with gas prices soaring, the U.S. is apparently looking at any and all options. Knowing there’s some enthusiasm among House Democrats to lift humanitarian-related sanctions, the administration could potentially move toward a sanctions-for-oil deal, though there’s no open sign of such a move at the moment.
| | | GALLAGHER: DON’T SLOW CYBER OPS: The Biden administration was wrong to give the State Department a greater say in how the U.S. responds to cyberattacks, said Rep. MIKE GALLAGHER (R-Wis.), co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Cyberscoop’s SUZANNE SMALLEY reported that “The White House brokered a deal that would bring the State Department back into the decision-making process on cyber operations, paring back unprecedented authorities the Defense Department gained in the Trump administration under a policy known as National Security Presidential Memorandum-13 (NSPM-13). As part of the compromise the State Department would have an enhanced ability to oversee cyber operations involving third-party countries.” That doesn’t sit well with Gallagher. “The time-honored military principles of delegation and accountability have been well balanced in NSPM-13 and efforts by the Administration to pull back the delegation and provide additional oversight and interagency input in the midst of the execution phase risks undermining our national security,” he said in a Wednesday statement. “This also flies in the face of every comment by our warfighters that adversary cyber operations are happening at an extraordinary speed that challenges our ability to defend ourselves.” Gallagher’s partner on the Commission, Sen. ANGUS KING (I-Maine), also cautioned against revising NSPM-13. “Any effort to alter and possibly weaken NSPM-13 signals to our adversaries a lack of credible willingness to use offensive cyber capabilities which undermines the credibility of our deterrent,” King and Gallagher wrote in an April letter to Biden, as Smalley pointed out.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Our mission is to prepare you for the future by engineering advanced capabilities today.
Many of today’s military systems and platforms were designed to operate independently. Through our 21st Century Security vision, Lockheed Martin is accelerating innovation, connecting defense and digital to enhance the performance of major platforms, to equip customers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more. | | | | | | HISTORIC COAST GUARD PICK APPROVED: The Senate late Wednesday night confirmed Adm. LINDA FAGAN to be the next Coast Guard commandant, a promotion that will make her the first woman to lead a military service. Fagan, who is now the Coast Guard's No. 2 officer, will succeed Adm. Karl Schultz when he retires later this month. Biden nominated Fagan in April. Our colleague CONNOR O'BRIEN has the full details.
| | | — MICHAEL HIRSH, Foreign Policy: “Why Biden’s Anti-Putin Democracy Crusade Is Failing” — HANNAH RAE ARMSTRONG, Foreign Affairs: “North Africa’s Frozen Conflict” — NIGEL GOULD-DAVIES, New York Times: “We Must Make Sure Russia Finishes This War in a Worse Position Than Before”
| | | — Biden welcomes Jordan’s King ABDULLAH II and Crown Prince HUSSEIN to the White House. — Biden participates in the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit at the State Department. — House Appropriations Committee, 9:30 a.m.: “Subcommittee Hearing: Fiscal Year 2023 United States Air Force and Space Force Budget — with CHARLES Q. BROWN JR., FRANK KENDALL and JOHN W. RAYMOND” — House Armed Services Committee, 10 a.m.: “Subcommittee Hearing: Fiscal Year 2023 Marine Corps Modernization Programs — with KARSTEN S. HECKL, FREDERICK ‘JAY’ STEFANY and MARK R. WISE”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? Shoot us an email at award@politico.com or qforgey@politico.com to be featured in the next edition of the newsletter. And thanks to our editor, John Yearwood, who threatened to take away our Patriot missile batteries if we don’t file on time. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
